Late Night
by a-slightcatchoflightning
Summary: So… it's 3am and I randomly had inspiration and an idea formulated for a quick fic so here you go :) Basically Ben was abused as a kid and he has a nightmare, though this fic is pretty gentle and not in any way graphic. Possible tw for anxiety


Dylan awoke, peering groggily into the darkness, illuminated by a soft white light to his left. It took him a moment to come to his senses, before he reached to his right to slip his arm back around his partner, but all he felt were cold sheets, rucked back up around his chest where the bed was empty.

It was then he properly acknowledged the white light to his other side and he rolled over and saw something unusual. His boyfriend, Ben sat, knees drawn to his chest, staring at the dully lit screen where images moved around, earphones in his ears. Dried tears left marks smattered across his cheeks, and he hadn't yet realised Dylan was awake.

Still unsure of what was going on, Dylan sat up a little to catch his boyfriend's attention, who then paused the video and pulled his earphones out.

"Sorry to wake you" He whispered guiltily.

"Nonsense, I woke up naturally" Dylan whispered back- though they lived together with no one else, it always did feel unnatural to speak at an ordinary volume at such early hours of the morning. "Are you okay, Ben?" He asked, concern seeping through his voice.

"Y-yeah, I just didn't want to wake you…"

Dylan peered through the gloom again, but the tablet went into screen-saving mode and the room turned dark, making Lofty gasp and pull his knees a little closer.

"It's okay Ben, I've got it" Dylan whispered reassuringly, slowly sliding the dial on the bedside lamp on to release a soft glow that filled the room. Lofty's shoulders had moved closer up around his ears in the time it took Dylan, and Dylan couldn't continue to pretend not to have noticed. "Get back into bed?" He suggested, pulling the sheets back, "You can sleep by the wall?"

Dylan knew sleeping between the wall and himself relaxed Lofty on a bad night, and he suspected Lofty was anxious.

"Are you sure?" Lofty asked.

"Of course I am" Dylan still spoke softly, so as not to startle his boyfriend. "You don't seem so great…"

"I-I just had a nightmare… You know?"

Dylan did know, and he remembered back to the previous month when Ben had woken, screaming and writhing in the duvet, begging his mother to have mercy. He shivered at the thought, and then realised how cold his boyfriend must be.

"Come here yeah?"

"Yeah okay…" Ben delicately climbed over Dylan and slid under the sheets beside him, his tablet and earphones still in hand, "I'm sorry for causing trouble…" He whispered.

"It's okay, do you need to talk about the dream?"

"I don't know" Ben admitted, "It was different to the others… I didn't wake you up…"

"Next time, you can okay? I'm here for you Ben, through thick and thin" Dylan told him.

"Thank you Dylan" Ben snuggled into his side a little, and Dylan put an arm around him protectively.

"It's okay, I promise she isn't here now" Dylan replied, in reference to his boyfriend's mum, "D'you want to give me an earphone?"

"Really? But you hate Zoella…"

"I don't hate anything that helps you relax darling"

Ben passed Dylan the other earphone and they continued to watch the last ten minutes of the makeup tutorial Ben had been watching. When they reached the end of the video, Dylan paused it from auto-play and turned his head so he could see Ben properly.

"Why is it you watch Zoella when you get anxious Ben?"

"She... Her videos have nothing to do with my mother…" Ben explained tentatively, avoiding eye contact, as he expected to be mocked as his last boyfriend would have done. But Dylan was no Alex.

"Ah, I understand" He replied, "Do you want to watch one more?"

"Yeah please"

"Okay, choose one you like then Ben"

Lofty tapped the next video on the playlist, a Lush haul, and Dylan noticed the label on the playlist – it wasn't YouTube generated, Ben had made it: It was labelled "Anxiety Help".

As the video began to play, Dylan had to admit (albeit silently in order to not interrupt the video) the voice of the girl on the screen _was_ calming, and the nature of each video was very gentle. He held his boyfriend close and felt as Ben's body began to slacken in his arms, and by the end of the video, his breathing was soft.

Carefully, Dylan removed his earphone, and then Ben's, taking even more care as he realised Ben was fully asleep and not just dozing against him. He snapped the cover of the tablet shut and put it on charge with the earphones placed on the bedside table, before gently moving Ben slightly so he could lie down too.

It didn't take long for Dylan to fall to sleep, his boyfriend held close and safe in his arms.


End file.
